I can tell you that knowing
something is amiss with your loved ones but not knowing
just what, is the most anxious of states. It is in
consideration of this sentiment that we are willing to share
some details of our family saga. It is also fair to note that I
would have a harder time being open about this if I were not
optimistic about the outcome.

It
took us about 2 days to understand that our son was sick
with leukemia and that it was ALL (Acute
Lymphoblastic Leukemia) type B.
We also found out that for his age group, if you were going
to select a flavor of this disease to survive, ALL was the
one. The transformation from simple parent
to "patient parent" is rapid and tearful but the folks on
the 17th floor and at the Pediatric/Hematology/Oncology clinic were really
able to infuse us with hope and optimism. While they never
did offer us guarantees, they soon had us believing there was a
very good chance that our son would walk out of the hospital
before too long. The treatments started
the following Monday and he was initially
hospitalized for about a six weeks.

It
all started with Xander complaining about back pain. At
first
the doctors thought it was just growing pains. It was
Thursday, June 1, 2006, when Kristin took him into the
doctors office. An x-ray revealed that he had a compression
fracture of one lumbar vertebrae. The troubling indication was
that there was no trauma, apparent or known, that could
explain the fracture. The doctors refer to this circumstance as a
pathological fracture and look to systemic causes to
explain. A blood panel showed extremely elevated white cell
count which gave rise to a frightening list of possible
causes and included things much scarier that Leukemia.

There have been and will
probably continue to be some heart breaking moments but it
is astonishing how quickly our parent nature transforms us
when family crisis arises. It took us all of two days to see
our glass as again at least half full.

Immediately after arriving at the Pediatric
Hematology/Oncology clinic and meeting Dr. Alison
Friedman and Heidi Jupp we began to gather some optimism. It is hard to
describe in a few sentences but Dr. Friedman and Heidi projected a
sense of concern and care coupled with confidence and
professionalism. Most notably she used they word cure
easily and often. Over the next few hours we met more
caregivers, members of Xander’s team, with a similarly
determined and optimistic attitude. There is no mistaking
the fact that these folks are in the business of
curing cancer.

As I understand it, the funds we raise
will go directly to support theCancer Care for Childrenby supporting research into the causes of childhood cancer
and to develop new treatments for these cancers. I would be
most grateful if you would consider sending a gift. If you
give through this website, the money will go directly to
them. You can also mail me a check (made out to
Massachusetts General Hospital) and I will pass it along.